Review: The Raven (The Florentine #1) by Sylvain Reynard

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel Series comes a dark, sensual tale of romance in a city shrouded in mystery…

Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery restoring fine works of Renaissance art. But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley. Raven is only semi-conscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attacker’s screams. Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her…

Cassita vulneratus.

When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. She returns to the Uffizi, but no one recognizes her and more disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of the events leading up to her disappearance, Raven also learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history – the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the baffled police force identifies her as its prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence’s wealthiest and elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth about her disappearance. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets…

5 out of 5 stars

This was a beautiful story, dark and mysterious. I was completely fascinated by the world that was created.

Raven and The Prince have this growing and complicated relationship that really pulled me in. They had an undeniable passion and draw to one another that made their story of coming together extremely elaborate, detailed, and sensual. I loved Raven, how much she cared for others and understood where she was coming from. I also loved how challenging she could be to The Prince because she was raised in a modern world and he was not, it made for a few humorous moments. Her opening up about her past was heart wrenching. I had so many questions along the way about both of them and loved the answers I got. There was a really great build to finding out just who and what The Prince was. His world is complicated, intense, and can be extremely brutal but in the middle of it he found beauty and it was wonderful to see. He had a few heartfelt moments himself! It was a lovely, evolving, well developed story.

Besides this love story between two flawed characters, the world of The Prince’s kind had its own drama going on and I loved this aspect of the story. I love the drama and intensity that was involved with the this side of the story. Quite a bit is learned and at the end there is closure for the most part but it’s very cliffhanger-ish since the story isn’t over. I still have a ton of questions about what will happen next.

The writing was almost lyric with a wonderful flow to it. Multiple points of views were given and I greatly enjoyed it because it made it extremely interesting seeing all the different perspectives. I also really enjoyed the overlap with the characters from the Gabriel’s Inferno series. I love the descriptions of Italy, it painted a vibrant picture in my head (now I want to visit!).

The prospect of hope, as well as love, longing, intensity,and drama were intertwined throughout and it made for a wonderful story.

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I'm Gretchen, the one-woman show behind About That Story. I'm all about HEAs, coffee, pretty things, & fun stuff. Feel free to take a look around and check out my spoiler-free reviews. Thanks for stopping by!

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